A Tongan citizen living in New Zealand, Tavake Mokofisi (33) has been fined $350 and sentenced to 150 hours community work by a New Zealand court for performing a home surgery on his pet dog in an attempt to neuter it.

Tavake admitted to conducting the surgery without anaesthetic. The dog is reportedly in good condition and is under the care of an animal protection agency.

The court revealed that Tavake performed the surgery in his backyard without anaesthetic in August 2015. He used a Stanley knife to open up the dog’s balls before removing its testicles, and then washed the wounds with salt water.

Two days after the home operation, Tavake took the puppy to animal vets and claimed that it had suffered an accident after jumping over a low fence. Tavake later admitted that he had performed a home operation and told the animal vets that it was legal to castrate dogs in Tonga.

The court stated “You later admitted you had tied the dog's four legs together with a rope, tied his mouth shut with a cloth and hung him in a tree. Once the dog was under general anaesthetic their [veterinarian's] suspicions were confirmed.”

The defence lawyer told the court that Tavake’s actions were misguided, "It's not a deliberate attempt to inflict pain for its own sake – it's misguided, and the priority here is really to prevent this man having animals in the near future."

In addition to his fine and community work sentence, Tavake was also ordered to pay $442.50 in veterinary costs and $500 towards legal costs.